Disappointed with our Photo Pass experience

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I unfortunately requested a refund of the pre-order I did for the photo pass cd. I was so certain that the cd was going to be a must have for us, especially since this was our first family trip to WDW. I also wanted to take advantage of saving $50 by doing the cd pre-order. While visiting these boards over the past year, I've seen so many great photo pass photographs and was hoping that we would have great photos like the many I saw posted on these boards. During our trip a couple weeks ago, I felt like we always had to hunt down the photo pass photographers. They didn't really seem to be out and about in many places and there were a few character meet and greets that we did that did not have a photographer present. I also had to take it upon myself a couple times and request that they do those "magic shots" with my kids (pretending to hold Tinkerbell or balloons in their hands, etc.).I would not have known about those "magic shots" had I not been on the DISboards. I was also disappointed with the quality of some of the photographs. A good percentage of the photos were taken as if the camera wasn't zoomed in enough or they took the photos when we weren't looking at the camera and it felt like we were rushed. Our saving grace was the fact that a lot of the photos the photographers were kind enough to take with our own personal camera actually turned out better than most of our photo pass photos! Even photos we took with our cell phones turned out really well. I guess I just had some high expectations for the photo pass experience. When we got home from our trip and I went to the photo pass site to claim our photographs, there were less than 100 photo pass photographs total from our 8 day trip! Almost no photos of candid moments with the characters, no magic shots other than the couple I had to request and explain to the photographer what I wanted, and the group photos in front of each of the park icons were either rushed or appear to not be zoomed in where you can clearly see each of us. I don't mean to come across as bashing the photographers because based on other people's photos I've seen, I know there are some really great photo pass photographers. I am just disappointed that we didn't get the kind of nice, distinctive photos I expected from photo pass, especially since this was our first family trip. However, we took over 900 photos with our personal camera and cell phones combined and I just got in the mail the really nice photo book I made on Snapfish.com using our own photographs. It turned out so beautifully so I am happy about that.

 

[delmar411]

we've had plenty of terrible photo pass pictures. Those aren't ones I post though! LOL I'm sorry you had a hard time finding them and the ones you got weren't good.

But just to 'set the record straight'...we have to ask for every single magic shot, I make it a point to ask them what they can do and if any of the other photogs can do something different. And we only get candid shots because I ask for those as well. I tell them we already bought the CD and would like candid ones too.

Many(most?) aren't going to offer up the magic shots unless that's what they are specifically 'assigned' to do...like out in front of AK in the mornings.

 

[Lees3rwe]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. We used photopass (slightly) the first visit, but did not pre purchase the disc. I wish we had!

On our second trip, we used it (and prepurchased it) and had a wonderful experience. Our only issue was a few blurry pictures and not being able to get a clean shot because it was so crowded!

I am glad your other photos turned out well.

 

[juliebug1997]

It is disappointing for there to not be Photopass photographers with every character but we always ask the handler if they'll take the picture for us. Some of our pictures don't always turn out as well as we'd hoped but we also use it as a convenience. Sorry you didn't enjoy the Photopass CD. Sounds like you still got some good pictures from your camera, though!

 

[momsquad]

I'm curious, did Disney give you a refund?

 

[worm761]

I'm curious, did Disney give you a refund?

If you preorder the CD and don't like your pictures, they will refund your money.

 

[santadog]

Thanks for posting this. We were there August 19-29, and were very disappointed with the availability of Photo pass photographers.
I think we only saw 5 photographers in Epcot on the 25th when we were there all day.
Also, several of the "Magic" shots we got are missing the elements, so we're just looking scared, or holding our hands in the air for no reason what-so-ever.

I am still on the fence about ordering the CD or asking for a refund.

 

[mountdew1]

Also, several of the "Magic" shots we got are missing the elements, so we're just looking scared, or holding our hands in the air for no reason what-so-ever.

I am still on the fence about ordering the CD or asking for a refund.

Contact them about the missing magic shots. Those all get added by hand, so it's completely possible for them to miss some. If you let them know what pictures are missing the magic, they should be able to add it for you.

 

[coconutprincess]

We are still going to use Photopass this time, just in case, but we aren't preordering the CD. I'm typically very dissapointed in our PP pictures. I think it may be to the fact that when we usually go, they are earning their ears. There are just not very many of the other than in front of the "icons" and we don't get the magic shots frequently. One year we did happen to randomly run into one in Canada in Epcot, by accident, and they took our picture. It was really good, we used it for a Christmas card. But that is the exception.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Thanks for posting this. We were there August 19-29, and were very disappointed with the availability of Photo pass photographers.I think we only saw 5 photographers in Epcot on the 25th when we were there all day.
Also, several of the "Magic" shots we got are missing the elements, so we're just looking scared, or holding our hands in the air for no reason what-so-ever.
I am still on the fence about ordering the CD or asking for a refund.

We were in WDW during this same week so you can probably relate to what I said about us feeling like we had to go on a scavenger hunt for photopass photographers In a way I was disappointed because I've seen so many nice photo pass photographs from other people posted here on the boards and I was hoping we would have some really special ones too. I think maybe the photographers we came across weren't as seasoned as others .

Yes, I was able to request a refund of our cd pre-order and I am waiting for the refund to post back to my bank account. I think for future trips we will continue to try to get photographs taken by the photographers both with the photo pass card and our own camera, but I won't do the pre-order next time. Maybe we will have better luck next time. I am very pleased though with my snapfish.com photo book I made and we were able to order it when they were offering a 50% off promo on their website so my $120 photo book only cost us $60

 

[Mckymousefn]

We pre-ordered it for our trip before and as soon as we walked into MK, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios there were photopass people standing there and all three of them had us do something (hands together for Tink), pointing at the ground (stitch) and cradling (simba). We didn't ask for any of them. At Hollywood Studios the same day we did the stitch one... the guy had my son and daughter over by a fountain and had High School Musical props for them. Without editing we had about 200 pics on our cd... after editing i would say 400 and something. There were also PP photographers at a good amount of character meetings.... but not all. Maybe it depends on the time of year your there??

We are pre-ordering again for our upcoming trip as well. Wish you would have had a better experience.

 

[Tistal]

Stay on them about the refund! When we went in December last year it was frigid, and we ended up hardly seeing any photopass photographers. The day after we got home, I called and canceled our CD. I never even logged into the photopass site to look at the pictures because we took so few. The girl I spoke to said it would take about 6 weeks for me to get the refund. 10 weeks later I still didn't have a refund. I called back and the billing offices were closed because of the freak snowstorm in Georgia. Several times calling back, and I still do not have a refund. My tentative fix (because I got so tired of fighting them for a refund) is to have the preorder applied to my upcoming trip (which I need to call on tomorrow, and I am dreading it).

I hope you have better luck than me.

 

[BigYellowShoes]

Too funny! We were also there the week of August 19. I do agree....the photographers were not that prevalent during our visit. There was one very cool time, however, after dinner at CRT, near 11pm, the castle was all lit up, MK was EMPTY (a great sight to behold!) and there was this lone photopass photographer on the side near Tomorrowland just standing there ready to take a picture. We totally jumped at that and it ended up being our favorite shot of the trip. I also did not order the CD. I only had just a few PP shots taken and then I uploaded my own pics to the PhotoPass site so I could create my album. I just love adding all the Disney borders/backgrounds etc.

QUESTION.....I'm reading about PhotoPass photographers taking "candid" shots.....I didn't even know that was possible....how is this done??

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[Berlioz70]

Candid shots are typically common during a Character Meet and Greet - but only if the photog is on their game!

This one is a couple years old - I was telling Tink about pirates and she wanted to show me her pirate impression.

This one is from about a week ago - DH always prefers to take the pictures, not be in them, but Vidia wouldn't stand for that.

I was enjoying Mulch Sweat and Shears when one of the singers came over and sang to me... afterwards I got a photopass card with some candids on it.

Candids are more likely to happen when there are extra photos around, or they are coming/going from an assigned location.

Keep in mind, August is a huge turn over month for CPs. Meaning that the spring/summer crew just left and the new fall crew is just coming in. A lot of the strongest photos will not be out, as they are training the new talent. That will leave slightly lower numbers throughout the areas. Not using this as an excuse, just providing some additional info that may help explain why it didn't seem like many were out.

I visit enough that I know where all of the main Photog spots are; some are more hidden than others. Well over half of the characters have a photog, but some cannot. For example, Mary Poppins will NEVER have a photog taking posed photos because of the contract with Andrews.

 

[JimmyV]

I was there the same week and was very, very glad that at the last minute, I opted not to pre-pay for a Photo Pass. I was fairly certain that I would be able to capture what I needed to with my own camera. Boy, was I right. Other than the obligatory photogs on Main Street in the MK, it was hard to find a photographer in an interesting spot.(Granted, we were not there with toddlers who were doing character meet and greets. The only characters we went to see were Mickey and Minnie). When we got back, I compared my pictures with the ones we had taken by a CM, and in every instance (especially at Mickey's meet and greet), my pictures came out better. For a few bucks at CVS, I can have all my memories printed and I can burn my own discs.

 

[BigYellowShoes]

BERLIOZ70--Many thanks for that info! Thanks also for your link in your signature.....great stuff!

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[greens_in_WA]

We have had good experiences with the photopass photographers when we have used them. Most of the time the photos were at the character meets.

However, one of the things that we have done is to have an impromptu photo session where we get family portraits done. The photographers have been very happy to do so probably because they get to do something a little different than the typical "tourist" shots. We go first thing in the morning when it's not too busy and ask one of the photographers that is standing around if we can get some family and individual shots done and if we can go somewhere off the beaten path.

 

[maccagerl]

Berlioz, I loved your character website! Can you tell me what the situation was with the graduation Mickey and Minnies? Those photos were so cute!

 

[suz_cute]

OP, we had a very similar experience to yours this past December. The pictures were such a disappointment, and we purposely didn't take as many with our own cameras because we were depending on our photopass pics. I wish we hadn't used it at all. We had used it many times in the past and had great photos, but this trip was TERRIBLE. Unfortunately, this was the first time our son had been to WDW. At least we had those shots of our own that we took with our cameras. Sorry you had a bad experience as well!!!

 

[lin7]

Also, several of the "Magic" shots we got are missing the elements, so we're just looking scared, or holding our hands in the air for no reason what-so-ever.

that happened to us too, and we looked rather silly. My mom was suppose be holding something like a baby in her hands, and we were all suppose to look surprised. They forgot to add whatever it was and we all looked like clowns lol

I found that most of the photographers were less than eager to offer pictures unless you went up to them.

We usually told them that we had a photopass and was ordering the cd so they can snap crazy. So they would snap at least 3 shots, so we got a picking we got a lot of bad shots, but had a lot of good ones too

Sorry it didnt work out for you though